Japanese Film Icon Ozu Yasujiro (Finally) Set to Receive a Full-Scale Tribute in Tokyo

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taiwanese actors King Jieh-wen and Hsueh Shih-ling and Indonesia’s Angga Yunanda are set to star in “Malice,” a multinational Asian thriller that will shoot next year. The film’s producers, actors and government backers presented the fully-assembled package to press and industry on Monday at the Busan International Film Festival. The film, pitched as “a road movie at sea,” is a dark tale of three men who put out to sea in search of a particular, large swordfish that had been rumored to have died out.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Seoul-based sales company Finecut has struck key Asian deals for the vigilante action movie “Brave Citizen.” In Korea, the film is presented by Content Wavve, one of the country’s leading OTT platforms and is headed for a Korean theatrical release on Oct. 25.Finecut has sealed deals with Kadokawa Plus for Japan, with Moviecloud for Taiwan and with Lumix Medi for Vietnam.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japan‘s Fair Trade Commission on Tuesday approved a remedial proposal by Toho Cinemas, the country’s largest movie theater operator, not to apply unfair pressure on third-party film distributors. The FTC opened an investigation into film booking practices in March of last year, having received reports that Toho Cinemas, which is also in the same family of companies as Japan’s leading distributor, had pressured other companies to only use its theaters. In its decision, reported by Japanese media, the FTC said that it accepted Toho Cinemas’ proposed remedies and said that it would not need to issue a cease-and-desist order or take other punitive measures that the anti-monopoly laws allow. The FTC explained that distributors choose so-called main cinemas as venues for promotional events (stage greetings, fan meetings and gala screenings). It found that since 2016 Toho would not accept film bookings at cinemas in its circuit unless a Toho Cinemas venue had also been designated as a main cinema. At the time of the complaint, the Asahi Shimbun business newspaper mentioned ‘intimidation’ by Toho.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Anthony Chen (“The Breaking Ice”) is attached to direct and Shinho Lee to write “Sunset Park” for Barunson C&C, a film and TV production subsidiary of Barunson E&A, the Korean company that produced Oscar-winning hit “Parasite.” “Sunset Park” recounts a surprising journey in the U.S. made by a Korean father with his son’s room mate, after the man receives tragic news about his son.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A clutch of Chinese movies released for the end of September holiday season dominated the global box office over the latest weekend. Mainland Chinese-produced films took first, third and fifth places across the planet, according to U.S.-based data service Comscore. Comscore shows “Under the Light,” which released only in mainland China, grossing an estimated $54 million between Friday and Sunday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief TIFFCOM, the rights market that sits alongside the Tokyo International Film Festival, is celebrating its return to an in-person format for the first time since 2019, with a move to another venue and the launch of the new Tokyo Story Market. The three-day market (Oct. 25-27) will relocate from Ikkebukuro to the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center (aka Hamamatsucho-Kan) in Hamamatsucho district.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has acquired world rights to German director Veit Helmer’s poetic love story “Gondola,” which will world premiere at the upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival. Helmer is well known on the international festival circuit for funny, fable-like films with little or no dialogue such as “Tuvalu”; the Azerbaijan-set “Absurdistan,” which went to Sundance in 2008; and “The Bra,” that launched from Tokyo in 2018.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has acquired world rights to German director Veit Helmer’s poetic love story “Gondola,” which will world premiere at the upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival. Helmer is well known on the international festival circuit for funny, fable-like films with little or no dialogue such as “Tuvalu”; the Azerbaijan-set “Absurdistan,” which went to Sundance in 2008; and “The Bra,” that launched from Tokyo in 2018.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix has given a green light to a third season of dystopian Japanese thriller series “Alice in Borderland.” The announcement was made by Netflix VP of APAC content, Kim Minyoung on the second day of the APOS conference in Indonesia. Based on the manga series of the same name by Aso Haro, “Alice in Borderland” follows the story of Arisu after he is transported to a parallel universe in which he has to play and win games to remain alive. The games are divided into four categories represented by suits on a deck of playing cards.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Equal numbers of Chinese and Japanese titles adorn the main competition section of the Toyo International Film Festival, which was announced on Wednesday – three each. Among the Chinese films is “Snow Leopard,” the last feature by the late Pema Tseden, and “Dwelling by the West Lake,” directed by Gu Xiaogang, the surprisingly inexperienced joint recipient of this year’s Kurosawa Award. The full competition with 15 titles, set to play between Oct. 23 and Nov.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 2023 Golden Horse Film Project Promotion, the project market that accompanies the Golden Horse film festival and awards in Taiwan in November, has laid out a huge 64-title selection for its 2023 edition. These include 39 film projects at various stages of development and financing; a further seven works in progress; and the 18-previously announced series at project stage.

The date the final Wilko stores will close for good has been announced. The collapsed retailer will shut its final 111 stores on Sunday October 8.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Studio Ghibli, the iconic Japanese cartoon firm behind Miyazaki Hayao’s recent “The Boy and the Heron” is selling a controlling stake to Japanese broadcaster NTV.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Director Clara Law (“The Goddess of 1967”) has been set as president of the jury which will discern this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards. She will be joined by Malaysia’s Yeo Yann Yann (“Ilo Ilo,” “Wet Season,” American Born Chinese”), German producer Anna Katchko (“Stepne,” “Happiness”), and Faisal Baltyuor, producer and CEO of Muvi Studios in Saudi Arabia. A separate jury for documentaries and animation will be headed by Taiwan-based Myanmar director Midi Z, India’s Rima Das and Japanese documentary maker Toda Hikaru. The APSAs will be presented at a ceremony in Gold Coast, Queensland on Nov.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Disney has given a green light to a second season of Japanese drama -horror series “Gannibal.” Set in a fictional Japanese village, season one of Gannibal saw recently relocated police officer Agawa Daigo arrive in his new home a broken man. Wrestling with his guilt over an event that traumatized his daughter, things started off promisingly for the new arrival before a series of alarming events quickly led Agawa to the horrifying realization that something was deeply wrong with the villagers and the mysterious Goto family.

Marta Balaga International Sámi Film Institute’s managing director Anne-Lajla Utsi will now add “trailblazer” to her résumé as the recipient of the first-ever Women in Film and Television International Peace Prize. The award ceremony will take place on Sept. 23 during the WIFTI Helsinki Summit.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese comedian Shinagawa Hiroshi has been set as the director of “Among the Dead,” the first project flowing from the co-production and co-financing venture between U.S.-based People of Culture Studios and Japan’s Yoshimoto Kogyo. The previously-announced project is an English-language, found footage zombie movie in which, following an apocalypse of the undead, one emotionally unstable man abandons friends and family to go live among the few remaining zombies before they’re all gone. The screenplay was written by father/daughter duo, Andy Cosby (“Hellboy,” “2 Guns” “Eureka”) and Charlie Danger Cosby, collectively known as Midnight Pizza. Other writing credits go to Brian Caldirola, Patrick Hasson and Juan Carlos Saizarbitoria. Shinagawa is one-half of the comedy duo Shinagawa Shoji, alongside Tomoharu Shoji, and has a considerable acting filmography in his own right including “Kantoku Kansen,” “Deadman Inferno,” “One Third,” and “Drop.” Shinagawa additionally served as director, writer, and starred in the 2011 comedy-drama “Slapstick Brothers,” which won a Citizen’s Choice Award for feature film and an award from the Japanese Academy for rookie of the year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japan’s Dean Fujioka (“Fullmetal Alchemist,” “The Man From The Sea”) and the U.K.’s Callum Woodhouse (“All Creatures Great and Small,” “The Durrells”) are set to star in “Orang Ikan,” a WWII-set creature horror film. The picture is scripted by Singapore and Indonesia-based Mike Wiluan (“Buffalo Boys,” HBO series “Grisse”) who will also direct the picture from next month. International rights to “Orang Ikan” have been picked up by London-based SC Films International, which will give the project its sales launch at the Busan festival and accompanying market next month. Set in the Pacific, 1942, a Japanese ship transports prisoners of war to occupied territories as slave labor.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean crime-action webtoon “Knuckle Girl” is being adapted as an original film production for Amazon’s Prime Video. It is structured as a Korea-Japan co-venture. The narrative revolves around a promising woman boxer, Ran, who takes on school bullies and participates in illegal bouts.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Tabu-starring spy thriller, “Khufiya” has been set as the opening title of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Oct. 11-15).